I have long followed baker Carlo di Cristo's insane "holey breads." When I found he was sharing formulas on his new website for Soulcrumbs, I had to give them a go. His method includes a long, slow fermentation followed by a period of retarding. I adjusted his formula...
I got mail! Namely, a boxed panettone from Alessandro Spoto of Torino, Italy, baker/owner of Voglia di Pane. It was a gift from Alessandro and my friends at Gustiamo, a Bronx-based Italian importer with fabulous, top-grade products you won't find elsewhere. Beatrice,...
Visiting Paris for Thanksgiving weekend, I assumed there would be boulangeries every corner. Are boulangeries in a death spiral, or is there a movement to recover this mom-and-pop industry before it is lost? So far, it seems the movement isn't working, as I found most...
Taking Thanksgiving to visit Paris, I fulfilled a dream, visiting my hero Thierry Delabre's Panadero Clandestino. Getting to his shop, I tried to capture a photo of him through the window. It didn't work. So I went in to say hello. We actually first met on Facebook,...
Visiting Ecuador, Jaime, the owner of Guayaquil's Masa Madre Bakery, invited me over to bake in his kitchen. Together we made some sourdough, along with bagels and pizza dough. The goal on the bread was a better crumb. Using no vital wheat gluten, we produced some...
After visiting family in California, it's time to visit family in Guayaquil, Ecuador. My focus on the first morning after arrival was a visit to Masa Madre, a local bakery that bakes sour dough bread. The baker/owner, Jaime Beundia, is a young entrepreneur....
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